


A Lot of Things Can Happen

by brinshannara



Category: Star Trek: Picard, Star Trek: The Next Generation
Genre: F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-01
Updated: 2020-02-01
Packaged: 2021-02-28 00:01:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,012
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22504453
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/brinshannara/pseuds/brinshannara
Summary: Beverly watches Jean-Luc's interview with Deanna and Will and is concerned for her old friend.
Relationships: Beverly Crusher & Jean-Luc Picard, Beverly Crusher/Jean-Luc Picard
Comments: 10
Kudos: 58





	A Lot of Things Can Happen

**Author's Note:**

> Spoilers for episodes 1 & 2 of Star Trek: Picard and TNG's "All Good Things..."

It surprised Beverly that he’d accepted an interview, frankly. She wasn’t even the only one; Deanna and Will had invited her over to watch the broadcast and then stay for dinner.

She was glad to be with old friends as she watched Jean-Luc get eviscerated by the reporter. They’d sat there in silence, watching their old friend get questioned, trapped, on a wide broadcast. It was difficult for them. Deanna had held on to her hand tightly, reassuringly. Damn empaths.

Dinner had been quiet, even somber. They had briefly talked about the captain — the admiral, even though all of them still thought of him as their captain — and tried to move on to more pleasant topics of conversation, but Beverly’s heart wasn’t in it. His behaviour worried her.

Of course, Deanna could tell.

They finished dessert and Beverly made her apologies about leaving early. Will, always kind and generous, asked Beverly if she wanted to take advantage of their guest room, but Deanna elbowed him.

“Try to get some rest tonight. Please?” Deanna asked, as they hugged.

Beverly tried to smile a promise, but she was fairly certain she didn’t quite succeed. She gave Will a quick hug and thanked them for their hospitality and she was back home less than fifteen minutes later.

She and Jean-Luc hadn’t spoken much since he resigned his commission. She’d stayed on in Starfleet Medical for another decade and it was clear that he’d resented her for that. She hadn’t been certain the Federation should risk so much to save the Romulans. Jean-Luc had challenged her view on it, saying that they were people. They were people, Beverly had agreed.

But the Romulans had always resented the Federation and, particularly, human involvement with the Klingons and the Vulcans, two of their oldest enemies. Their overall desire to expand the Romulan Empire was just at odds with the very nature of the Federation. Their history was resplendent with battles, like the Khitomer massacre, which had left Worf and his brother orphans. Yes, they were people, but could they trust them? Should the Federation risk everything to save these perpetual enemies?

Jean-Luc was virtually unreasonable about it, and she knew he still had complex feelings about the Romulans, the Remans, Shinzon and Data‘s death. So he remained stubborn and, much to Beverly’s regret, they weren’t as close as they once were.

Through some snooping through the files while working at Starfleet Medical, she knew that he’d changed doctors to one from his previous command, the Stargazer. Beverly had only met Dr. Moritz Benayoun twice, and one of those occasions had been when Jack had died, so she naturally didn’t have a lot of affinity for the man. She took it well, professionally, when Jean-Luc had informed her he no longer thought it appropriate for her to be his doctor. Personally, she knew it was a larger change than it appeared to be on the surface.

She had lost his trust.

Beverly took a deep breath as she poured herself a glass of Chateau Picard and curled up on her couch by the fireplace, an old-style PADD in one hand. She skimmed through the medical database to a familiar entry, one she'd read dozens of times before, though not in several years.

_ IRUMODIC SYNDROME _

Jean-Luc had told them all about the alternate timeline and his adventures with Q. In the future he’d seen, he was an ambassador. They had apparently married one another, only to divorce years later. Most shocking, however, was that Jean-Luc had received a diagnosis of Irumodic Syndrome.

Part of her had been surprised by the idea of them being married and then divorced, although she could see it, if she tried hard enough. It had been the very notion of him being diagnosed with Irumodic Syndrome that had thrown her.

The next morning, as they’d had their regular breakfast together, she’d been quiet and lost in thought.

“Beverly,” he’d said, bringing her out of her reverie.

“Mm, yes, I’m sorry, my mind wandered,” she’d replied. “You were saying?”

“It might not happen, you know.”

She’d sighed. “But you’ve  _ been  _ to the future. You  _ know  _ it’s going to happen.”

He’d come over to her side of the table and taken her hands in his. He’d gazed deeply into her eyes. “A lot of things can happen in twenty-five years,” he‘d murmured.

Overcome with emotion, she’d leaned forward and gently kissed him, feeling his lips move against hers. And then they’d finished breakfast and things had gone on as usual. They never spoke of the kiss again, though that was likely her fault for rebuffing him after the Kesprytt incident.

She had, of course, insisted on scans and thorough tests. A small defect in his parietal lobe had been located during the neurological scans. Jean-Luc had reminded her, again, that a lot of things could happen.

So when he didn’t become an ambassador, she relaxed a bit. When they didn’t marry and subsequently divorce, she was happy that their future didn‘t parallel what Q had shown him. 

When she didn’t become the captain of her own ship, she finally, and perhaps foolishly, believed him. It wasn’t a certainty. The defect in his parietal lobe was possibly harmless.

When that 25-year mark passed, four years ago, she’d let herself exhale a breath she’d hardly known she’d been holding for a quarter of a century. She’d told herself he’d be fine, that they were writing their own futures, that what Q had shown him wasn’t how things had to be.

But when she’d seen the interview at Will and Deanna’s, she knew her worst fears had come to pass. The man she’d seen on the broadcast wasn’t her Jean-Luc, not anymore. He’d rambled, she had caught him unaware. The reporter had completely ruined any credibility he might have left.

Her Jean-Luc wouldn’t have agreed to the interview at all. He was too smart for that.

To Beverly, nothing could be clearer from that interview than the fact that Jean-Luc Picard had developed Irumodic Syndrome. And it broke her heart.


End file.
